


Not Yet Remembered

by leiamoody



Series: Originals [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Mysteries of the Force, Reincarnation, Spiritual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 21:22:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5513750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiamoody/pseuds/leiamoody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-Wan meets a woman who is mysterious but not a stranger. (This is part of my AU GFFA. It does not follow any official canon, just my non-official head canon).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Yet Remembered

**Author's Note:**

> The character Sibylla Orien also appears in my fic Fortune.

  
"Someone wants you to have this." The Cathar bartender slid a fresh mug of lum in front of Obi-Wan with his left paw.  
  
"I did not ask for another drink."  
  
The feline purveyor of alcoholic beverages shrugged. "Not my place to refuse. The lady over there said you'd appreciate it."  
  
Obi-wan glanced over to a shadowed corner of the cantina. A woman of indeterminate age, though she appeared young, sat in the booth. Dark brown hair surrounded a pale face that belonged in some aristocratic setting instead of a seedy cantina on Tatooine. She wore a dark colored (brown or maroon) cloak dotted with small gold squares, an uncharacteristic costume for anyone on the desert planet.  
  
He reached into the unseen energy field that surrounded and permeated all living things. Using the Force was tricky now, since the Empire began hunting down anyone cursed with an overabundance of midichlorians, but the present situation required answers. Obi-Wan quickly realized there was a strange aura that surrounded the strange woman...her presence was ephemeral, yet her interior self radiated a brilliance he never detected in any other being, like a supernova veiled by a bank of clouds.  
  
The bartender tapped on Obi-Wan's right arm. "I've got other customers."  
  
Obi-Wan knew there were only four patrons in the cantina: two Duros in the back arguing over a game of Holdout, himself, and the woman. The Duros were in their booth when he first entered the establishment ninety minutes ago. He didn't know when the woman arrived. He briefly pondered asking the bartender if he noticed her coming in the door, but realized the Cathar was not in a cooperative mood.  
  
"I will take that lum." Obi-Wan grabbed the mug, then looked over at the booth again. A placid smile rested on the stranger's lips, but her gray-blue eyes radiated impatience. If he wanted answers, it was necessary to cross into her domain.  
  
Obi-Wan took a long swallow of the chilled lum. The strange woman's Force aura was unique, alive and radiant. She was a tangible manifestation of the Force's...heart? Yes, that was the only way to describe the vibration of midichlorians in conjunction with the expanded presence that radiated from her.  
  
He glanced at her. She pointed at the empty space across the table from her vantage point in the booth.  
  
This wasn't his first encounter where introductions occurred through gestures rather than words. A long ago mission to Lorrd was particularly memorable due to a four-hour banquet conducted entirely through kinetic communication, including the polite conversation necessary at any formal gathering. But Obi-Wan had no basis for comparison to form educated reactions in this particular circumstance. He would let the Force guide him through this unfolding great mystery.  
  
He stepped forward and sat down in the booth. He took another swallow of lum, set the mug at the center of the table, then folded his arms over his chest.  
  
The strange woman leaned back into the grubby woven cloth of the booth seat. "A long, long time ago; upon the sea of Celestine; moonlight shone down on the heads; of the knight and his queen."  
  
Kenobi realized her utterance was song lyrics, although he did not recognize its source or understand what it represented for this meeting. Yet the words seemed...familiar, like a clarion across the hidden distance of time. "Have we met before?"  
  
"Yes, although it was so long ago you'll never remember it. Even I can barely recollect that lifetime."  
  
Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows. "Excuse my ignorance, but-"  
  
"We lived and died together. The Candorian plague got us both seventy-three years before the Ruusan Reformation. It was the most catastrophic outbreak in recorded history." She laughed again. "I must apologize for sounding crazed. I haven't inhabited a corporeal form since..." she raised her eyes to the ceiling and bit her lip "...it's been around five hundred years, give or take a century."  
  
Obi-Wan frowned. Either the lum was contaminated with some hallucinogenic or she was truly not in possession of her sanity. Yet she lacked the characteristic imbalance that a disturbed being usually possessed. "Why have you sought me out here?"  
  
"It would have been too easy arriving on your doorstep."  
  
"How could I anticipate your arrival?"  
  
"You have known something greater lay underneath the surface of your perception ever since Yoda's encounter with Qui-Gon's spirit. Once you discovered Yoda had been in communication with him, your unconscious was prepared for a new learning phase."  
  
"Based upon your particular theory I am supposed to be ready for something beyond imagination."  
  
"The greatest horror and wonder to be encountered by all living souls."  
  
"Perhaps I should avoid this new discovery." He finished the remainder of lum that had turned room temperature.  
  
The woman nodded. "That is wise. But logic will not shield you from the inevitable."  
  
Obi-Wan stared into the empty mug. "You cannot escape destiny."  
  
"Not when you are trapped within its grasp...which has been true ever since you were placed in charge of the Chosen One."  
  
Obi-Wan winced. It was only five months since his final confrontation with Anakin. That encounter on Mustafar was the inevitable result of an overpowering darkness that could not be overcome by no amount of Light shining upon through the enduring strength of not only him but also others. Fighting against darkness had become standard operating procedure on a daily basis in the past three years. But it was impossible to fight against darkness when it annihilated someone he cared for. Leaving Anakin's wrecked body on those molten shores was the only solution way to ensure he could never come back into the galaxy. "If failure is part of some grand plan of the Force I would rather not be involved."  
  
"I felt as you do back when I was trapped within the cycle. But I didn't understand there was something more important than myself that needed to be understood. The process of reincarnation requires amnesia and I forgot to remember my chosen role in something greater than anything the galaxy has ever witnessed. Just like you have forgotten through choice about your part in the events which have transformed the galaxy into this plane of darkness."  
  
"Anakin chose to follow the Sith way-"  
  
"But the Jedi never realized the Dark Lord was also the same man who ran the galaxy."  
  
Obi-Wan glared at her. "The Dark Side is formidable. Sidious hid everything from us because he drew from some hidden ancient source."  
  
"Yes, since nothing catastrophic occurred in a thousand years the Sith had apparently retreated. The Rule of Two was obviously literal and of course they could never find themselves in the midst of that great silent era. No possibility lost secrets might be uncovered then passed down until they reached the intended Dark Lord who finds the prophesied apprentice."  
  
"The prophecy was misunderstood."  
  
"That is a dead certain understatement. Your sect believed the proportion of balance would fall inevitably toward the Light without considering the alternative."  
  
Kenobi frowned. "Should I concede defeat on behalf of the Jedi?" He tossed the empty mug onto the floor. "Am I the representative of our collective failure to detect a hidden threat which has now engulfed the galaxy?" A rare surge of anger flowed through him, not unlike the rage that pushed him toward destruction of Darth Maul. It was not his responsibility to assume blame for the downfall of the Jedi and Republic. Yet this...creature...dared to blame him for not perceiving the Sith Lord hidden in plain sight...or not understanding the young man who became the Sith Lord's acolyte.  
  
The woman sighed. "It doesn't matter now. What mattes is the reason I came back into the Living World."  
  
"And that reason would be-"  
  
"You detected the erratic presence of my borrowed midichlorians. They do not register in the same fashion as those which belong to someone physically alive."  
  
"So you're a ghost?"  
  
The woman laughed. "Oh, 'Force ghost' should become part of the instruction manual once the future gets settled."  
  
Kenobi stared into her blue-grey eyes. That familiar sensation returned...the lyrics she recited struck deep into his unconscious. The amused gleam in her eyes reminded him of...a sunny day in the midst of brilliant colored wildflowers walking along a cobblestone path...sitting in a fancy restaurant with polished chromium fixtures and mirrored walls, laughing about...  
  
"It was ridiculous in retrospect," she replied. "I wanted to get off Lianna and go to some other planet with trees, mountains, and clean air instead of that bloody world. But you had to point out it was impossible to leave because-"  
  
"It was the Republic Dark Age. Even though we had jobs and money unlike others around us, we were still isolated from the rest of the galaxy because travel had become expensive since Lianna was so far away from the Core."  
  
"Then came a pestilence which had struck other worlds, although it seemed more virulent in the Rim. Candorian plague worked quickly on most of us-"  
  
"I died first." His declaration felt strange because he spoke about the end of another person's life...yet that person had somehow been him. There was no immediate connection to the vague memory of a red-haired man laying in a hospital bed gasping for breath; yet Obi-Wan had been that same man in some unknown manner soon to be discovered. "My name was..." the vowels and syllables came together, found their way into his mouth "...Enlil Moirae?"  
  
The woman closed her eyes. "Yes. I was called Sorana. Every name used to matter when the lifetime was over. After twenty-one incarnations one tends to forget such a trivial detail."  
  
The lingering memory of that dying man bothered Obi-Wan far more than anything else he'd experienced during his years as a Jedi, including the Clone Wars and his battle with Anakin. If he was meant to discuss life after death with this woman, it was better to have the conversation with the assistance of alcohol. "I'll need something stronger than lum."  
  
She nodded. "Do you still fancy Commenor brandy?"  
  
He smiled. It was a definite favorite in this lifetime, and may have carried forth across centuries and bodies. "Indeed."  
  
"It's all on my credit, since I brought you here and am forcing you to discover matters normally left better forgotten." She pointed to the empty seat he abandoned on the other side of the booth. "You really need to sit down for this. It's a long and ridiculous explanation about matters that will affect everyone, particularly the Jedi."  
  
Obi-Wan slid back into the seat, then placed his elbows on the table. "Of course before this grand explanation begins, I would like to know what name you prefer to be called."  
  
The woman once known as Sorana shrugged. "I've possessed the names Laodina, Lyra, among other identities. It was during my incarnation as the latter when I first accessed every lifetime I had up to that point. It was during my final rotation as Nellith Kaido when I realized it was necessary to pass on knowledge of the Afterlife to others in the future, especially the Jedi Order. So I was guided toward a master and padawan who agreed to become part of this undertaking after they were done the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. I contacted Qui-Gon during his quest, and now I will guide you through the discovery of things forgotten." Her smile was now mischievous. "You may call me Sibylla."  
  
He nodded. "Very well. I don't suppose it's necessary to introduce myself."  
  
"Of course not. Although you might be interested to know why you decided to choose the name 'Ben' for your current alias."  
  
"It's from another lifetime."  
  
Sibylla laughed. "Of course. But that explanation will come later. Your introduction to the Afterlife comes first."


End file.
